Verifying the rendering of video content at client devices using trusted platform modules

Abstract

Systems and methods for verifying the rendering of video content on information resources are provided herein. A server can receive, from a target client device, a tracking message purporting to relate to delivery of a target content item; determine whether the tracking message contains an identifier of a sending device that sent the tracking message; determine whether the sending device and the target client device are the same device; if the sending client device and the target client device are the same device: recover, from the tracking message, information about at least a portion of a frame of a content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device; and compare the at least a portion of the frame of the content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device with a target content item.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of verifying an identity of a client device, comprising, by a server:
 receiving, from a target client device, a tracking message purporting to relate to delivery of a target content item; 
 determining whether the tracking message contains an identifier of a sending device that sent the tracking message; 
 determining whether the sending device and the target client device are the same device; 
 if the sending client device and the target client device are the same device:
 recovering, from the tracking message, information about at least a portion of a frame of a content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device; and 
 comparing the at least a portion of the frame of the content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device with a target content item. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 disregarding the tracking message if the at least a portion of the frame of the content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device is not included in the target content item. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether the tracking message was generated by the trusted platform module of the target client device; and 
 if the tracking message was not generated by the trusted platform module of the target client device, disregarding the tracking message. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether the frame of the content item processed by the trusted platform module of the client device is a predesignated frame selected by the server. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 estimating the computation complexity for a subset of frames of the target content item by performing a simulated processing of the target content item to estimate a computation complexity metric. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the computation complexity metric includes at least one of: process time, processor usage, memory usage, or power consumption. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 identifying an encoding type for each frame of the subset of frames of the target content item. 
 
     
     
       8. A system for verifying an identity of a client device, comprising:
 a data processing system having one or more processors; 
 a content deliverer executed on the data processing system having one or more processors, configured to receive, from a target client device, a tracking message purporting to relate to delivery of a target content item; 
 an identity verifier executed on the data processing system, configured to:
 determine whether the tracking message contains an identifier of a sending device that sent the tracking message, and 
 determine whether the sending device and the target client device are the same device; and 
 
 a recovery module executed on the data processing system, configured to, if the sending client device and the target client device are the same device: 
 recover, from the tracking message, information about at least a portion of a frame of a content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device; and 
 compare the at least a portion of the frame of the content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device with a target content item. 
 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the recovery module is further configured to:
 disregard the tracking message if the at least a portion of the frame of the content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device is not included in the target content item. 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 8 , the recovery module is further configured to:
 determine whether the tracking message was generated by the trusted platform module of the target client device; and 
 if the tracking message was not generated by the trusted platform module of the target client device, disregard the tracking message. 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the identity verifier is further configured to:
 determine whether the frame of the content item processed by the trusted platform module of the client device is a predesignated frame selected by the server. 
 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 8 , the content deliverer is further configured to:
 estimate the computation complexity for a subset of frames of the target content item by performing a simulated processing of the target content item to estimate a computation complexity metric. 
 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the computation complexity metric includes at least one of: process time, processor usage, memory usage, or power consumption. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the content deliverer is further configured to:
 identify an encoding type for each frame of the subset of frames of the target content item. 
 
     
     
       15. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for verifying an identity of a client device that, when executed by one or more processors of a data processing server, cause the data processing server to:
 receive, from a target client device, a tracking message purporting to relate to delivery of a target content item; 
 determine whether the tracking message contains an identifier of a sending device that sent the tracking message; 
 determine whether the sending device and the target client device are the same device; 
 if the sending client device and the target client device are the same device:
 recover, from the tracking message, information about at least a portion of a frame of a content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device; and 
 compare the at least a portion of the frame of the content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device with the target content item. 
 
 
     
     
       16. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further includes instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the data processing server to:
 disregard the tracking message if the at least a portion of the frame of the content item processed by a trusted platform module of the client device is not included in the target content item. 
 
     
     
       17. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further includes instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the data processing server to:
 determine whether the tracking message was generated by the trusted platform module of the target client device; and 
 if the tracking message was not generated by the trusted platform module of the target client device, disregard the tracking message. 
 
     
     
       18. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further includes instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the data processing server to:
 determine whether the frame of the content item processed by the trusted platform module of the client device is a predesignated frame selected by the server. 
 
     
     
       19. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further includes instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the data processing server to:
 estimate the computation complexity for a subset of frames of the target content item by performing a simulated processing of the target content item to estimate a computation complexity metric. 
 
     
     
       20. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the computation complexity metric includes at least one of: process time, processor usage, memory usage, or power consumption.